A Guide to the Anne Virginia Agnew Papers, 1919-1943
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 42287
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference)
Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference)
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
© 2006 By the Library of Virginia. All rights reserved.
Processed by: Jessica Tyree
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Collection is open to research.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Anne Virginia Agnew. Papers, 1919-1943. Accession 42287. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Helen Wolfe Evans, Raleigh, North Carolina, 31 October 2005.
Biographical/Historical Information
Anne Virginia Agnew, known as "Jean," was born in Nottoway County, Virginia, on 5 December 1872, the tenth child of Dr. James Anderson Agnew (1828-1879) and Martha Chaffin Scott Agnew (1832-1872). With their mother's death the day after Jean's birth, some of the eight surviving children were sent to live elsewhere. Jean was placed with Richard Anderson Miller (1840-1919) and his wife Sarah Elizabeth Crowder Miller (1844-1926), relatives of the Agnews. The Millers later had two children of their own, Richard (1874-1940) and Mary (1877-1926 or 7). The family lived first at Stone Knoll, a house in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and then at Grape Lawn, near Burkeville, Nottoway County, Virginia. Throughout her life, Jean also maintained close relationships with her natural siblings.
Born deaf, Jean Agnew learned to read lips, and communicated with her family through sign language. She worked as a teacher in several schools for the deaf, some of which she helped to establish. In later years, she supported herself by working as a genealogist, and was credited for her insistence on accuracy and citation. At the encouragement of sister Ella Graham Agnew (1871-1958), she eventually took up residence in the Home for Needy Confederate Women in Richmond, Virginia. She died in 1944 after being hit by a train. Some in the family believed that her death may have been a suicide, as she had feared that an upcoming cataracts surgery would leave her blind and completely dependent on the help of others.
Scope and Content
Papers, 1919-1943, of and pertaining to genealogist Anne Virginia "Jean" Agnew (1872-1944), are largely comprised of notes she gathered while researching her own ancestry and that of her clients. Some of the surnames researched include Archer, Baldwin, Chaffin, Claiborne, Cox, Flippin or Flippen, Hobson, Hughes, Jones, Miller, Scott, Ward, and Webb. For a more detailed listing of families mentioned in the files, see the folder listing. At times, notes are supplemented by newspaper clippings and photographs. Two collections of family anecdotes, Agnew's "Our Vine and Figtree and Some Family Incidents, " and the booklet "Graham Scott's Letter to his Nephew and Namesake, " also offer insight into whites' attitudes toward African Americans in mid- 19th to early 20th-century Virginia. Other items include Agnew's genealogy "work book"; a handful of scholarly and genealogical journals; and four letters, dated 1919-1943, in which Agnew gives general updates on her life and the goings-on of family members, including sister Ella Graham Agnew (1871-1958).
Arrangement
File names and groupings assigned by Anne Virginia Agnew have for the most part been maintained. In some cases, information on several families was kept within a single file; the groupings do not necessarily indicate relationships between the families.
Contents List
Papers, 1919-1988, of and pertaining to genealogist Anne Virginia "Jean" Agnew (1872-1944), are largely comprised of notes she gathered while researching her own ancestry and that of her clients. Some of the surnames include Archer, Baldwin, Chaffin, Claiborne, Cox, Flippin or Flippen, Hobson, Hughes, Jones, Miller, Scott, Ward, and Webb. For a more detailed listing of families mentioned in the files, see the folder listing in the finding aid. At times, notes are supplemented by newspaper clippings and photographs. Two collections of family anecdotes, Agnew's "Our Vine and Figtree and Some Family Incidents," and the booklet "Graham Scott's Letter to his Nephew and Namesake," also offer insight into whites' attitudes toward African Americans in mid-19th to early 20th-century Virginia. Other items include Agnew's so-called genealogy "work book"; a handful of scholarly and genealogical journals; and four letters, dated 1919-1943, in which Agnew gives general updates on her life and the goings-on of family members, including sister Ella Graham Agnew (1871-1958).
File names and groupings assigned by Anne Virginia Agnew have for the most part been retained. In some cases, information on several families was kept within a single file; the groupings do not necessarily indicate relationships between the families.
- Box 1
Folder 1-2
Agnew
- Box 1
Folder 3
Agnew, J. Stuart
- Box 1
Folder 4
Amelia County
- Box 1
Folder 5
Amelia County records
- Box 1
Folder 6
Anderson
- Box 1
Folder 7
Archer-Osborne-Hughes
- Box 1
Folder 8
Armistead-Wills-Pryor-Newman
- Box 1
Folder 9
Baldwin
- Box 1
Folder 10
Bedford County wills
- Box 1
Folder 11
Bookers and Jeters, Amelia County
- Box 1
Folder 12
Bowdoin-Robins
- Box 1
Folder 13
Bradley-Lyon
- Box 1
Folder 14
Branch
- Box 1
Folder 15
Cary
- Box 1
Folder 16
Childrey, Jackson Frayser
- Box 1
Folder 17
Chiles-Cheadle
- Box 1
Folder 18
Claiborne
- Box 1
Folder 19
Crawley
- Box 1
Folder 20
Dabney
- Box 1
Folder 21
Daniel-Cunningham-Watkins-Worsham
- Box 1
Folder 22
Deardons of Prince George County
- Box 1
Folder 23
Dryden-Gale-McClure-Lessley
- Box 1
Folder 24
Eltonhead-Conway-Thacker-Hickman-Greenhill
- Box 1
Folder 25
Eppes
- Box 1
Folder 26
Farley
- Box 1
Folder 27
Fitzgerald
- Box 1
Folder 28
Fletchers of Brunswick and Nottoway Co.
- Box 1
Folder 29-30
Flippin-Flippen-Walton-Cox-LeGrand-Hobson-Brown
- Box 1
Folder 31
Fowlkes-Jennings
- Box 1
Folder 32-34
Genealogy work book
- Box 1
Folder 35
Giles-Graham-Page
- Box 1
Folder 36
Gordon
- Box 1
Folder 37
"Graham Scott's Letter to His Nephew and Namesake, Graham Scott II "
- Box 2
Folder 38
Hanover records
- Box 2
Folder 39
Henrico County
- Box 3
Folder 40
"Henrico Parish, in the Diocese of Virginia, and the Parishes Descended Therefrom "
- Box 2
Folder 41
History of Richmond
- Box 2
Folder 42
Hughes of Hughes Creek and Muddy Creek
- Box 2
Folder 43
Huguenot history
- Box 2
Folder 44
Jones
- Box 2
Folder 45
Jones-Fitzgerald-Epes
- Box 2
Folder 46
Leigh
- Box 2
Folder 47
Letters, 1919-1943
- Box 2
Folder 48
Louisa County Records
- Box 49-52
Magazines and journals
- Box 2
Folder 53
Merryman
- Box 2
Folder 54
Miller
- Box 2
Folder 55
Miller-Agnew
- Box 2
Folder 56
Miller-Agnew-Baldwin-Scott
- Box 2
Folder 57
Miller-Anderson-Dabney
- Box 2
Folder 58
Miller-Carter-Heath-Barbee-Daniel-Thacker
- Box 2
Folder 59
Miscellaneous
- Box 2
Folder 60
Morgan-Wilson-Willson-Scott-Osborne
- Box 2
Folder 61
Mosby
- Box 2
Folder 62
Neale-Marshall
- Box 2
Folder 63
Notes from Richmond Enquirer , 1815
- Box 2
Folder 64
Notes from Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, 1705-1781 , Hanover County
- Box 2
Folder 65
Notes on Southside, Va., extracts
- Box 2
Folder 66
Nottoway County order books, 1790's
- Box 2
Folder 67
Nottoway County session book, 1837-1890
- Box 2
Folder 68
"Our Vine and Figtree, and Some Family Incidents "
- Box 3
Folder 69
Perkinson wills, Amelia County
- Box 3
Folder 70
Peters
- Box 3
Folder 71
Pettus
- Box 3
Folder 72
Photostats of churches
- Box 3
Folder 73
Powhatan County archives
- Box 3
Folder 74
Preston
- Box 3
Folder 75
Price
- Box 3
Folder 76
Prince Edward County marriage bonds, 1785-1857
- Box 3
Folder 77
Prince Edward County marriages
- Box 3
Folder 78
Prince George County deeds
- Box 3
Folder 79
Scott Bible photostats
- Box 3
Folder 80
Scott-Chaffin
- Box 3
Folder 81-82
Scott (lateral)
- Box 3
Folder 83
Spencer
- Box 3
Folder 84
Tanner-Hatcher
- Box 3
Folder 85
Taylor
- Box 3
Folder 86
Ward
- Box 3
Folder 87
Ward-Ammon
- Box 3
Folder 88-89
Webb
- Box 3
Folder 90-91
Webb, Mrs. Anne Darden--Ancestry of
- Box 3
Folder 92
Wythe County wills
- Box 3
Folder 93
Young